Team 6: New Rookies of Suna
by Zenchibi
Summary: Follows one of the newest three men teams of Suna, Team 6, led by none other then Sabuko no Gaara.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, this is set in a time where Gaara didn't become the Kazekage…

That's all I really have to say….

On to chapter one.

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**Chapter 1**

"No."

"Gaara-san, I understand that you don't exactly want to do this, but its nescisary."

"I don't enjoy repeating myself Kazekage-sama."

"Gaara-san, we don't have enough jounin ninja as it is, and we don't exactly have a need for your…" The Kazekage considered his words carefully for several moments, "…expertise for the time being. Given that, we need you to do this. It's for the good of the village."

"Kazekage-sama, perhaps I didn't make myself clear. I refuse," Gaara turned to leave.

"Gaara-san," The Kazekage called after him, "You know I wouldn't ask you this if we didn't absolutely need it."

Gaara rubbed his dark eyelids. There was no way he would accept this position.

"Why not ask any of the other jounin," Gaara said.

"Gaara-san, if I could, trust me, I would, but there are no other jounin available to handle the number of students that graduated from the academy this year."

Sabuko no Gaara, jounin of the Hidden Village of Sand, top assassin, container of Shukaku, was being asked to lead his own three man team…of genin.

He was indeed not participating in as many missions as he had been for quite some time. The Village of Sand had created many strong alliances with other shinobi countries, and had many missions coming in to bring it great wealth. Times were peaceful, and assassination was no longer at the top of the list of demands.

As such, with many other jounin occupied with other important missions, Gaara was one of the only ones available with enough time to be able to teach a three man team.

Gaara understood this. He had been restless, often spending his excessive amount of free time in Konoha, even though it was supposedly 'against regulation'. Konoha had become a strong ally of Suna, and there wasn't much that either village could do to stop Gaara. Suna had only as much control of him as he granted them, and he was a personal friend of the Hokage, and was allowed to visit him whenever.

"Gaara-san, if you do not except the position voluntarily, I will have to assert my authority as the Kazekage!"

Gaara turned and gave an icy glare to the Kazekage.

"Er…what I meant was…" The Kazekage stammered, "If you could…just…please?"

"Fine," said Gaara. He didn't feel like arguing any more. He was bored anyway, and he figured this was as good as any other way to pass the time.

He then left the wide-eyed Kazekage's office, intending to go home, or maybe Konoha.

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Gaara looked at the list in his hand. It had four names, with information such as age and date of birth beside each one, as well as a picture. Gaara recognized one name immediately, as it was his own. Below were three names he didn't know. On top of the page, in a bold font, was written, "**Team Assignment: Team 6**".

He studied the paper, read the notes on each of the children who would be his students.

"Well, that's that," said the Kazekage, "You can go now."

Gaara left. He now needed to think of what he should do with these kids. He didn't exactly have the best social skills, and he had never been put into the position of Teacher before. He could be a 'leader', a 'student', a 'cold-blooded, heartless killer', and had even been told he was a good 'listener', but 'Teacher' was not something he had experienced, and hadn't really wanted to, either.

So, he decided there was only one place, or more specifically, one person, he could go to figure out what he should do next.

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"Naruto."

"What the hell!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto, I need your help," Gaara said.

"I need to know why you're in Konoha and not in Suna!" Exclaimed Naruto.

Gaara sighed and explained his situation. It probably would have been better to send a letter or something instead of just 'dropping by', but the situation was urgent, and needed to be taken as soon as possible.

"Naruto."

"Hm?"

"What should I do with these kids."

"Well, on the first day we met Kakashi-sensei, he asked us to introduce ourselves..."

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Okay, I hope you people liked it...


	2. Chapter 2

Here's chapter two. Enjoy.

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**Chapter Two**

Gaara still didn't want to teach these genin, but he figured he didn't really have a choice in the matter, now that he had already excepted. As he talked he studied the kids before him. The girl was sitting politely, listening. The boy closest to her was paying attention, but looked like he also had something else on his mind. The last boy looked impatient, and fidgeted while listening.

"...So tell everyone your likes, dislikes, dreams, things like that."

Team six looked skeptical. They had heard about Sabuko no Gaara, mostly stories blown out of proportion, and didn't expect him to be the type to want to know about their 'dreams'. But before they could really argue, their teacher cut in.

"Why don't you go first." Gaara stated, motioning to the only girl in the group. Most people would have phrased that as a question, but from him it sounded like a command.

The girl stammered, "G-Gaara-sensei, could you maybe give us an example of what you mean?"

Gaara sighed; Naruto hadn't said that he would have to do anything like this. He didn't want to either, but he figured it would be best to think of what Baki would have done, and do the exact opposite. And so he began, "Alright. My name is Sabuko No Gaara, there aren't many things I like, and I dislike everything that I'm not given a reason not to. I don't sleep, and therefore don't dream. Any questions?"

They may very well have had questions, but Gaara didn't leave enough time for them to ask before he again said, "Now, why don't you go."

"My name is Ichiboku Yaezaki," She said, "I like to go to Konoha and watch the cherry blossoms fall, I dislike most sweets, and my dream…well, I guess it would be to be able to have a Sakura tree in my own backyard."

Gaara looked almost wistful at her mention of Konoha. He remembered well everything that had happened to him in that village. He returned to his senses and directed the next student to go.

The boy rubbed his eyes, looking tired, and didn't respond.

"Excuse me," Gaara said, "It's your turn."

The boy still didn't respond until the other boy sitting next to him gave him a nudge in the ribs.

"What?" He asked.

"It's your turn," said the last boy.

"oh…" The boy took a breath and said, "My name is Seiseike of the Nikuimugen clan. I like this village, and I dislike the cold. My dream is just to become a great ninja someday."

The final boy didn't even wait for Gaara to tell him to introduce himself, "My name is Hidori Hagaimaru, I like to run, and I hate bugs. I don't have a dream, but it would be awesome to be able to fly."

Gaara stayed silent a few moments, not saying anything.

…and continued to do so…

…for a while…

…and continued to do so until finally one of his students said, "Gaara-sensei?"

"Hm?"

"Are we going to do something?" asked Hagaimaru.

Gaara raised a non-existent eyebrow, "You have a problem with doing nothing?"

This kept the students quiet for a little while longer.

"Gaara-sensei…" This time it was Seiseike that interrupted the quiet.

A simple glare from their teacher kept them quiet again.

Finally Yaezaki asked, "Gaara-sensei, why do we have to sit like this and be quiet?"

"Because," Gaara answered, "I don't really know how to do this job. I'm trying to think of what we should do next, and to think I need quiet."

"Oh…"

Gaara looked at his students. They were fidgeting, and he found it annoying. He sighed, and finally said, "Alright, that's all for today. Meet me here again tomorrow. Early. Before we go off on missions, you're going to have to prove to me that you're ready to be Ninja of Hidden Sand."

And so they left.

Now with some time to himself again, he figured he needed to figure out just what he needed them to prove.

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"Naruto."

"Gah!" Screamed Naruto, as he spilled some of the hot broth he had been finishing from his bowl onto his lap.

"Naruto, I need your help again," said Gaara.

"I need you to stop dropping in like this without warning!"

"I had them introduce themselves, they're meeting me again tomorrow. I said I'd have some kind of test for them to prove they would make good ninjas. What should I do."

Naruto sighed, "Well, in Konoha, we have a test with bells…"

Gaara looked skeptical but kept listening.

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Okay, that's chapter two. Naruto really won't appear again...as far as I've written...oh forget it.

I'm also working on another story at the same time as this, so if it's slow getting out, please be patient.


	3. Chapter 3

Alright, here's chapter three, I hope you enjoy it.

...and because I forgot disclaimers earlier...I don't own Naruto.

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**Chapter Three**

"…and so, you have to get a bell. If you can get one, you get to eat lunch, the one who doesn't goes to the stump. You have until noon," Gaara finished, pointing out a stump, which he had actually brought back from Konoha for this training exercise, and a timer.

"Yes! I can do this," exclaimed Hagaimaru, "No sweat. Piece of Cake!"

Gaara found himself smiling ever so slightly in spite of himself. Hagaimaru's 'ready-to-go' attitude was rather contagious. It reminded Gaara of the Hokage in his adolescent years.

Seiseike looked slightly annoyed at the other boy's very loud display. Yaezaki looked ready, with a slight glint in her eye of excitement.

"Alright then," Gaara began, "Ready…set…Go."

Someone had enough insight to actually use a smoke bomb to cover the three genin's get-away. When the smoke cleared, it showed Gaara stood alone in the middle of the sand, hand up and gathering chakra, while he held his other hand up, sand swirling around it. The sand slowly took the form of an eye, and Gaara looked down to it, and it looked back up to him. He then crushed the sand eye, and the grains scattered, looking for the hidden genin of team 6.

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Seiseike looked from behind a sand dune. He looked closely at what his teacher did. As soon as he caught sight of the eye, he knew immediately that there was no good place to hide. He knew of the 'third eye' technique he guessed Gaara was using, and if he was in an area covered with sand, the eye would be able to find them easily, as the sand used in the technique would be indistinguishable from all of the sand around them.

He quickly ran away to a further dune. The best thing to do would be to stall the time it would take the eye to find him. He hoped his teammates knew the same.

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Hagaimaru kneeled behind another dune, planning an assault on Gaara, and ran out to attack…almost. He ended up colliding with Seiseike, who, as luck would have it, choose the same dune he had been about to run from as the place he would fall back to.

Hagaimaru, though annoyed, whispered harshly to Seiseike, "What the hell are you doing!"

Seiseike rubbed his eye, which had collided with his teammate's knee, "What do mean 'what the hell am _I_ doing?' What the hell are you doing? Rushing to attack like a moron."

"Moron!" Hagaimaru kept his voice low still, "I'm the moron? You're one to talk! I can't…"

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Yaezaki caught sight of her teammates, talking very animatedly to each other.

_Their probably coming up with a plan, _She thought, and quickly ran over to them.

"Guys, what's happening?" She asked in the same hushed tones they were using.

Hagaimaru whispered back to her, "I was about to attack, and maybe get myself a bell and some lunch, when he," he motioned to Seiseike, "ran into me and told me to stay back."

"Because," Seiseike said to defend himself, " I saw Gaara-sensei use a technique that could jeopardize our positions."

"What jutsu?" asked Yaezaki.

"The third eye technique," answered Seiseike.

"We can just use some basic genjustsu to get around then," she replied, "but even if we get past being noticed by the third eye, we're still dealing with an elite jounin of Hidden Sand, Sabuko no Gaara."

"So," said Hagaimaru, "why's that matter?"

Seiseike let out an exasperated sigh, "you idiot, what's one of the most famous things Gaara is known for?"

Hagaimaru looked blankly at him, then confused, until after several moments his face lit up, "His--"

"His absolute defense," interrupted Yaezaki.

"I was about to say that!" complained Hagaimaru

"So…how do we get past it?" asked Seiseike.

"I've heard that if he's very low on chakra, it stops being able to protect him, or I suppose if you're somehow faster then it," Yaezaki said, "but I've never heard of anyone actually being able to get past it."

"Hey!" Said Hagaimaru suddenly, "I've got an idea…"

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Gaara watched Hagaimaru talk animatedly. He couldn't hear what was being said, the limitations of the third eye were substantial.

He shifted the eye to look at the other two children. They seemed surprised by something.

_If I'm right, and Hagaimaru is like Naruto, he's come up with a plan._

He could only consider what the plan might be, but some aspect of it wasn't completely fine tuned, or so the seemingly very hard punch Yaezaki delivered to Hagaimaru's head led him to believe. He watched carefully as the both turned to Seiseike, who talked slowly and calmly, though once again, he couldn't tell what about.

The two other genin looked to him, nodded, and they split off into different directions.

Gaara stood silently, released the jutsu, and prepared himself for whatever oncoming attack they might make.

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"Then we know what to do," said Seiseike to his companions, "Let's go."

They split up, with Seiseike moving to a dune closest to their teacher, and Hagaimaru furthest away and behind Gaara, while Yaezaki stood in the middle and off to one side.

He held a smoke bomb carefully in one hand. He would be the one to start the plan; he was almost shaking with anticipation.

Yaezaki looked carefully around; she just had to make sure she wasn't noticed long enough to do her part.

Seiseike watched for the signs that would signal when he had to start. A bit of sweat trickled down his face.

Hagaimaru waited another moment, and then threw the smoke bomb to the opposite side of Gaara that Yaezaki was.

The small explosion and smoke caught Gaara's attention, and he looked over to see exactly what was happening. He didn't notice the kunai thrown at him from the opposite side. He didn't even flinch when he heard the sand blasting up from the ground to deflect them.

_Now! _Thought Seiseike, and ran through the seals. Boar, ox, bird, rat, snake…he rested on horse and ran out, feeling the chakra pulsing about to complete the technique.

Gaara noticed a figure running from out of a dune to his left, and turned to look. He saw a flash of blue and heard, "Akumu no Jutsu!"

The world faded away…

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_Gaara looked down at his hands. He knew they were his, but they were smaller then he remembered them being just moments ago. He saw a teddy bear on the ground next to him, right by the swing he was sitting on._

_There were children around him._

_"Monster!"_

_"It's Gaara…Sabuko no Gaara.!"_

_"Run away, he's gonna kill us all!"_

_"Monster!"_

_ "Monster!"_

_ "Monster!"_

_He reached out a hand to the children, tried to tell them he wasn't a monster…but they faded away, leaving behind them an image of his father._

_"What are you crying for? Crying will only make you weak!"_

_He tried to say something to his father, too, but he also faded away, leaving…Yashamaru. Dying…because of him._

_"I always…resented you…"_

_Gaara's eyes grew wide. Yashamaru continued, "You were never loved…"_

_ Never loved…_

_ Never loved…_

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The jutsu ended, and Gaara regained his senses, and looked impartially to his surroundings. Several more kunai littered the ground, and Seiseike stood panting, obviously almost out of chakra. The other two genin were still hidden, out of sight.

"Impressive technique," Gaara said to Seiseike, though loud enough to make sure the other two students heard, "but you miscalculated two things."

Seiseike looked annoyed, almost bitter that Gaara had taken his best jutsu with so little effect, and didn't answer.

Gaara continued, unphased, and raised on finger, "one: my shield of sand protects me regardless of my will, I have no control over it. Therefore, even if you attack me while I'm under the influence of genjutsu, it will protect me.

"Two," he raised a second finger, "no matter what kind of 'nightmares' your technique shows me, it isn't as terrible as anything I've already experienced in real life."

He ended his little speech, just as the timer rang, and walked away, bells jingling by his side.

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Okay, hope you enjoyed that, please review. And Chapter 4 should be out soon.


	4. Chapter 4

Naruto not owned by I.

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Chapter 4

Team 6 sat on the sand, looking very disappointed, and a little tired. They looked to their instructor, who looked back at them and said nothing.

The silence was held for several moments until one of the children said, "Sensei-"

Gaara interrupted the boy, "None of you were able to get a bell."

The proof of this hung from Gaara's belt. Two bells securely fastened.

At the mention of this, all of the students looked even more disappointed. Yaezaki voiced their worries.

"So…we failed," she said. It was supposed to be a question, but the answer seemed so obvious that she didn't think it mattered.

"Who cares if we failed," complained Hagaimaru, "We don't get lunch!"

"No," said Gaara, ignoring the second statement.

"No?" Asked Yaezaki, "But you just said…we didn't get the bells…"

Gaara looked to his students, and shook his head slowly, "If you're still worried about the bells, then you don't understand the point of this exercise. Then…you do fail."

Seiseike looked to his teacher, "But the point of the training was to get one of the bells, you said so yourself."

"Idiot!" Said Gaara, in an unusual display of almost open emotion, "If all you think this training was to get a bell then you should quit being a ninja right now."

"But you did say the point was to get one of the bells," confirmed Yaezaki, "you said to try and get a bell any way possible."

Gaara knew this wouldn't get any where quickly with some help. The three had almost passed, but they needed to understand why.

"And how did you do that?"

"You know as well as us," said Seiseike, "Hagaimaru used a smoke bomb to distract you, and then Yaezaki threw kunai to add to the distraction. Next, I used my…"

Seiseike's voice faded as his teachers body language told him that he was wrong, and Gaara was sick of hearing it.

Hagaimaru looked to his two teammates, then to his teacher and said, "We worked together. As a team."

Gaara looked to Hagaimaru, as though surprised that he of all people was able to figure it out, but lacking any of the emotion that would normally appear on a person's face.

"Correct," Said Gaara, "and that is why all of you pass."

There was a silence as the three let the knowledge of teamwork and the understanding of the lesson sunk in.

"So…" Said Hagaimaru, "This means we get lunch, right?"

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Gaara sat with a bowl of ramen in front of him. He didn't touch it, but watched his companion down his fifth bowl while talking, exposing the half-chewed noodles in his mouth.

"So, how'd the training go?" Asked Naruto. Much to his relief, Gaara had appeared on his doorstep this time, and politely rung the bell and asked to talk with him.

Gaara set down a glass of water he had been drinking from and replied, "Fine."

"They all passed?" Naruto asked.

"Mm," was the only answer.

"So, you'll start on real missions soon."

Gaara nodded silently.

Naruto was annoyed. He had been called her, having been asked for his advice, and now the Sand nin refused to talk. If it had been anyone else Naruto would have already lost his temper, but he expected this from Gaara, and so let it slide.

Gaara rubbed his eyes.

"Tired?" Naruto asked with a smile.

Gaara looked to his companion and gave him a death glare that could have killed lesser men. But being Naruto, he barely even noticed it.

Gaara finally spoke, "I need to protect these kids now, right."

It was obvious he knew the answer, but Naruto humored him, "right."

"What if I can't do that?" Gaara asked.

Naruto sighed. He understood why his friend only ever took or received solo missions. His sleeplessness left his personality generally unstable, and his childhood had turned him bitter. He was able to control himself now and ignore Shukaku's desire for blood; he was even able to keep himself calm through incredible self-control. But no matter what he did for his village, the villagers, and most of his peers, weren't able to get past the fact that the one tailed Tanuki demon slept within his body.

"Gaara, you can't let those people get to you," Naruto said, "You know you're different. I know you're different. And Hinata says that if I can understand something, everyone can."

Gaara appeared almost not to listen to the words of comfort Naruto provided, but said, "One of my students has an uncanny resemblance to someone I know…"

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Hagaimaru yawned and rose from his bed, rubbing his eyes, and staring blankly into space for a few moments. His nightcap barely stayed on his head. He slowly got up, now conscious, but not awake. He shuffled over to his the door of his room, opened it, and finished his shuffle downstairs, falling asleep at the bottom until his sister came by and gave him a good whack on the head.

"GAH!" Hagaimaru exclaimed, "What the hell was that for, Touhi!"

"You fell asleep again moron," Touhi said, "Weren't your 13 hours enough last night?"

"Gimme a break," he mumbled, "It's my day off."

"You're a genin, it's easier to count the number of days you don't have off," his sister retorted. Touhi was a chuunin, and three years older then him. More of an intellectual then him, and more annoying then anyone he knew.

He had breakfast, and then flew back up to his room. He changed into his regular clothes: grey pants, black undershirt, sandals, his forehead protector around his forehead, and the yellow-orange shirt most of his friends and family complained waking up to, with his clan's symbol emblazoned in red on the back. He liked the color, though, and no one doubted it; it matched his personality.

From the time he was young he had been loudmouthed, bluntly honest, and what some might consider stupid. Though not necessarily who one might choose to enter to represent one's country for a national debate, or even a spelling bee for that matter, he wasn't as stupid as people thought he was. He was practical, knew the tools of the ninja well, and on a side note, a health freak. For example, his breakfast that morning had been two imported apples, three glasses of carrot juice, and two bran muffins.

As a ninja, he had graduated almost at the bottom of his class, never getting anything better than a 14 on written tests.

"Alright! I'm going," He called to his parents as he left for the training grounds within the city. Though it was his day off he had promised his teammates he would meet with them to train.

"Hey Moron!" Touhi called after him, "Don't forget that it's Mom's birthday tonight."

The wave he offered without turning was his annoyed response. He wouldn't forget something like his mother's birthday. Though none too bright, he wasn't an idiot.

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Yaezaki tapped her foot impatiently. Boys! They never showed up on time. She had made sure to be punctual, so as to ward off any younger children that might hang around and monopolize the training grounds while other had some real training to do.

She saw a figure approaching, and though couldn't tell who it was, brushed off her green dress, made sure her headband was secure around her waist, and tucked a wisp of dirty blonde hair that had floated in front of her face. She always made sure to be as neat as possible, and hated being what she considered, "unpresentable." To be as such would mean to have a single speck of dirt on her otherwise flawless clothes. She even considered looking into jutsu to keep her clothes from getting dirty, but had decided it wasn't worth the trouble or people thinking even worse about how much of a neat freak she was.

"Good morning, Yaezaki-chan!" Hagaimaru greeted her cheerfully, as always.

"Good morning, Hagaimaru," she replied to her friend, "Do you know where Seiseike is?"

"I've been reading for quite some time now," replied Seiseike, suddenly standing behind them and startling Yaezaki.

"Seiseike, don't do that, you almost gave me a heart attack!"

"It happens," Seiseike said nonchalantly.

Yaezaki looked at Seiseike with a pouting look. He wore the standard sandals that Suna ninjas wore, and long red pants that he bunched up and tied just below his knee to make into shorts. The pants must have been too big for his fairly thin form, as he wore a belt, and an extra one for no apparent reason, to hold them up. His stomach was covered only by red fishnet, and his cream white shirt covered his chest and upper arms, and had hood on the back, which he had never been seen with up. He wore his forehead protector with its unusual red cloth on a chain around his neck, and his straight brown hair fell to his shoulders.

"Alright," said Hagaimaru, "Let's train."

"Let's go with some taijutsu matches," Suggested Yaezaki.

Hagaimaru smiled excitedly, but Seiseike was less than enthusiastic.

"I'll pass; I'm not very good at taijutsu. I don't feel like getting beaten up today," he returned to sit.

Hagaimaru shrugged, "Your loss," then he turned to Yaezaki, who had moved to about twenty feet away to outline a make-shift ring, and called, "So, what's the score, 20 to 2?"

"Oh, shut up, Hagaimaru!" Yaezaki called back, "I'll more than make up for those flukes today!"

Hagaimaru chuckled, "Don't you think 20 'flukes' deserves some type of consideration as fact?"

"Maybe you're afraid to be beaten by a girl."

Hagaimaru blushed with anger. He would never be beaten by a girl!

"Alright, let's go!"

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Alright, a lot of this was kind of boring, but I figured I should get the vast majority of any description I'll have about the characters out of the way, as I didn't do so when I first introduced them, which may have been a mistake.

Hope people review...


	5. Chapter 5

da na na na na na na na Fight scene.

I'm not very good at writing fight scenes, but what ever. You won't die from reading it.

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**Chapter 5**

"So, what's the score now, Yaezaki," Hagaimaru taunted, "40 to two?"

Yaezaki glared at him from where she lay on the ground, completely exhausted. She knew that challenging Hagaimaru to taijutsu match had probably been a mistake from the start. He had been ranked number two in taijutsu for their entire class, and fourth within the entire academy. She had felt so sure that she would have been able to win just one, though; she couldn't resist the chance to take him on.

"Well if we had been using ninjutsu, too, I would have won," She retorted, though not as sharply as usual.

"Then why didn't you challenge me to a ninjutsu match, moron," was his reply.

Seiseike looked up at him from where he laid comfortably against one of the buildings that surrounded the training grounds, "There's no pride in beating some one who's so far below your level you aren't even trying."

Yaezaki looked at him with malice because of the insult, but knew it was true. With Hagaimaru being one of the best at taijutsu in the academy, she was one of the worst.

"And you think you can do better?" Hagaimaru inflated ego asked for him.

Seiseike glared at him and said in an icy tone, "You want to try your luck?"

The now living ego smirked, "Sure. You want to make the rules?"

Seiseike stood, brushed some of the sand that had come to rest on him off his clothes, and addressed his teammate, now opponent, "Ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, weapons…everything. All out."

Hagaimaru smirk turned to a broad smile. He was good with taijutsu, and with ninjutsu and weapons to aid him, he knew his victory was secured. "Alright," He turned to Yaezaki, "Yaezaki! Would you mind starting us off?"

"Sure," She said, and walked over to the side of the rectangular ring they had drawn out earlier, and waited for both of the boys to take their positions.

"Ready…" She began, "Set…Go!"

Hagaimaru dashed to the side, fully intending to end this quickly. He opened his pack, took out a shuriken, and threw it to Seiseike's feet, trying to make him leap back so that he would be able to get him in the air. But Seiseike ignored the shuriken. He didn't even notice it. Hagaimaru looked closely, and saw that the other boy's eyes were closed. Seiseike was also rapidly forming handseals, and finally ended.

Hagaimaru got ready to dodge or block whatever was coming, when Seiseike's eyes snapped open, glowing blue with chakra.

"Akumu no Jutsu!"

Hagaimaru looked into the flash of blue, and then the world fell away.

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Gaara entered Suna near the training grounds, one of the entrances to the village, and the one he used most often when traveling to and from Konoha.

He was actually near enough the grounds to hear the scream of what he assumed was terror. He wasn't able to pinpoint exactly where the scream came from, but he knew it could have been more than several hundred feet away.

He brought his hand up, and disappeared in a whirl of sand, to reappear at the top of a nearby building. He surveyed the general area from there. He looked to some of the alleyways, they were all clear. He looked then to the training grounds, and saw a small crowd gathering. Mostly of younger academy students that usually terrorized the village, but also an adult or two, and, he noticed almost immediately, Yaezaki.

The sand swirled around him again, and he reappeared by Yaezaki's side. The girl didn't notice him until he spoke.

"What happened."

She gave him a startled look, and then just dumbly pointed the scene inside the rectangle drawn in the sand.

He looked and saw his other students. Seiseike was standing wearily, barely able to hold himself up, and Hagaimaru lay near him, unconscious, and shuddering every once in a while.

Gaara walked calmly over, even though he didn't feel as such. He kneeled by Hagaimaru, looked to Seiseike and asked, "What happened."

Seiseike answered, "He asked for a match. We had decided that it was to be everything goes. I gave him everything."

Gaara looked completely unfazed, but the knot in his stomach grew tighter. He carefully picked up Hagaimaru, disappeared once again in the sand.

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Gaara sat in the uncomfortable hospital chair, stood up at once, and leaned against the wall instead. He had repeated this process several times in the past half-hour, and though most would think he was just restless, one person who truly knew him would have said he was nervous.

He had not called Hagaimaru parents. He had decided to send Yaezaki to do that. She had no idea where the Hidori's lived, and that was why he had chosen her to go. He figured by the time she was able to inform them of what had happened, and they were able to get to the hospital, he would know and be able to tell them Hagaimaru's condition.

A nurse stepped out, and recognizing Gaara as the one who had brought in Hagaimaru, walked over to him.

Her words were reassuring, "He's resting now. He had a very strong genjutsu placed on him."

Gaara stayed silent.

The nurse looked at him with concern, not for him, but for the boy, "You wouldn't know what happened to him, would you?"

Gaara remained silent. He knew what had happened. Seiseike's jutsu had little effect on him. He wasn't able to gauge the devastating effects it had on the mind of a 'normal' person. The only indicator to Gaara that the technique was not completely…worthless, for lack of a better word, was the obvious amount of chakra it used. Both times it had left Seiseike in a state of exhaustion.

"_And I'm supposed to protect them…What if I can't protect them?"_

_"You know you're different. I know you're different…"_

_Can't protect them…_

_Can't protect them…_

Gaara felt that playing over and over in his head.

He had failed.

He felt helpless. They hadn't even started missions yet and he wasn't able to protect his students. If he wasn't able to protect them from one another, how was he supposed to be able to protect them from an enemy?

He needed to get away. He would forget his plan to tell Hagaimaru's family what had happened. He would leave that to the nurse and their son when he was feeling better. He needed to get away. Leave for a while. Just go. Rubbing his eye with the heel of his hand, he let the sand envelop him, and take him away from the hospital.

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Yaezaki led Hagaimaru's mother to the hospital, soothing the woman the whole way. When they finally reached the entrance, Yaezaki was relieved to see her teacher standing with a nurse.

"Gaara-sensei!" She called.

But Gaara did not answer, instead she saw the sand pour out from his gourd, wrap around him, and then swirl out and away, leaving nothing.

The solace she had hoped to receive from her teacher no longer a possibility, she led the panic-stricken woman over to the nurse to inquire about Hagaimaru's condition.

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How'd like that?

I'm almost done the next chapter, so I'll be posting it soon, hopefully.


	6. Chapter 6

Alright, chapter 6.

Ehwinn, if you really think it's good enough, translate it into whatever language you want.

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**Chapter 6**

The Hokage walked up to Gaara solemnly. His words reflected his walk, which reflected his mood.

"You can't run."

Silence.

He repeated his statement, "You can't kee--"

"I couldn't protect them," Gaara interrupted. He was silent again for a moment, then continued, "I couldn't protect them when it wasn't even an enemy."

"You couldn't help that. You were here," said Naruto, "you can't be in two places at once."

"I could have been there," Said Gaara, "I could have been there, and I could have stopped it."

"You didn't know."

"I _could have been there_," Said Gaara again, with urgency in his voice, "But I wasn't. I was doing what I always did. I gave up, and ran here. I'm no different then what they say." Silence, again. Then, "I should just give up…"

Naruto looked at his friend. He understood this. He didn't know if it would help, but he remembered the advice a friend had told him, advice they had received.

"You can't give up," he said, "what do you think will happen if you give up? Missions will still happen. Accidents will still happen. They'll just be given a new leader. One that might not be able to protect them. Giving up won't change anything, but staying, doing everything within your power to keep them safe might."

Gaara looked to the Hokage, "Thank you."

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"Mom…MOM!" Hagaimaru exclaimed, "I'm fine! God…talk about over-reacting."

"Overreacting?" His mother asked, "Overreacting. I learn that my youngest was sent to the hospital and could have possibly needed to go into intensive care, and you think I'm overreacting!"

Hagaimaru winced at the shrillness of his mother's voice. "Geez, calm down. It was just a genjutsu…I'm sure Seiseike didn't mean to hurt me."

"Seiseike did this to you?" His mother paled, then said in a semi-hushed tone, "You realize what his family can do, don't you?"

Seiseike, who had been sitting nearby since Yaezaki had brought in Hagaimaru's mother, gave the woman a rather dirty look. He had come here to make sure that Hagaimaru recovered, not to hear someone speak poorly of his clan. The talking continued, but he tried to tune it out. It wasn't worth his time to be here. He had made sure that Hagaimaru was fine and now intended to leave as soon as Gaara came back, as he figured that would be the best time to slink out. He was even about to go back out to the waiting room, but he felt a hand on his shoulder gently pushing him back into the chair.

"Seiseike did this?" Asked the newest of Hagaimaru's visitors.

Hagaimaru's mother stood to greet the man, "From what I've heard, Amatsu-san, yes. Yes, he did."

Amatsu sighed, "Is this true?"

Seiseike nodded and lowered his head in gloomy silence.

His father looked down to his son, and then asked Hagaimaru, "Do you remember what happened?"

"We were sparring. We had decided that it should be anything goes, and then started. It was really intense…" Hagaimaru paused. After gathering his thoughts he continued, "Then there was a flash. Then…something horrible."

He stopped and shuddered, and didn't continue.

Amatsu looked to Seiseike, whose head was still down, but talked to the members of the Hidori family.

"Well, it would seem from your description that it might have been any of several genjutsu from our clan. Do you remember anything else that happened."

"Dad," Said Seiseike, "Don't hassle him. I used the Akumu no Jutsu."

His father's eye's widened for a moment in shock, then blinked and looked back to Hagaimaru's mother, "Well, then, there you have it. I assume that the children's teacher should be here soon, so I'll just be taking Seiseike home now. Hagaimaru should be fine by tomorrow, and more then likely will have completely recovered as early as this evening."

Hagaimaru's mother smiled sweetly and thanked him as they left the room.

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Gaara returned just as Seiseike's father leading him out.

"Hello, Gaara-sensei."

"Hello, Seiseike."

"Amatsu-san," He said in greeting to the other jounin.

"Gaara-san." He answered briefly, and then resumed talking to his son when Gaara was out of earshot.

"Seiseike, not only should you have known not to use such a genjutsu, you shouldn't have been able to."

"It was the only one that I could do without fainting," Seiseike mumbled.

"'The only one,'" Repeated his father, "You shouldn't even be able to do Akumu no jutsu yet. What else have you been practicing?"

"Mugen tenjoukai."

Amatsu looked at Seiseike dumbfoundedly. "Do you realize what could have happened if you didn't just faint from trying to use that?"

Seiseike remained silent.

"You could have died! Don't you understand what happens when your chakra goes to zero?"

Seiseike continued his shamed silence.

Amatsu stopped, and nothing was said for several moments. Then he smiled and said, "You were really able to use Akumu no Jutsu on someone?"

Seiseike face lightened up, "Twice! I was even able to use it against Gaara-sensei!"

Amatsu listened intently as his son described exactly what his first few days of being a genin were like.

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Just thought I would tell people the meanings of the some of the names.

Ichiboku - One Tree Yaezaki - Double Blossom

So together it means The Double Blossom of a Tree

Nikumugen - Hateful Dreams Seiseike - Create

Creator of Hateful Dreams

And Amatsu means Heavenly.

I added in some of the suffixes to the names in this chapter. Kind of random, and I don't know if I'll do it again. Except for when Yaezaki, Seiseike, or Hagaimaru talk to Gaara.


	7. Chapter 7

Because I seem to have forgotten it several times: I don't own Naruto, any of the characters, yada yada yada yada…Yoda?

In Yoda voice Naruto I do not own. Copy right infringement I must avoid.

**Chapter 7**

"…And Seiseike has something to say, too," said Seiseike's Mother. When the boy didn't say anything, she nudged him forward, causing him to stumble slightly. "Don't you Seiseike."

Seiseike looked back and saw the fire's of the hell that awaited him burning in his mother's eyes if the task wasn't carried out. Swallowing his pride (and to clear his anxiety), he approached Hagaimaru, "I'm sorry for using a high powered genjutsu against you and putting you in the hospital."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Said Hagaimaru, once again his oh-so-chipper self, and gave his team mate a hardy slap on the back, causing the boy to flinch, "A little bit of training, and you won't be able to pull that one over on me again!"

Seiseike was about to explain why genjutsu could only be thrown off by a person's mind, or a sudden imbalance of chakra to disrupt the illusion, and that no amount of training could make Hagaimaru's mind any better than a newt's, Yaezaki dragged them both away to where Gaara was waiting.

"Our first mission is today," he announced once the genin assembled around him.

Hagaimaru quivered with excitement. "Our first mission…our first mission!" He repeated like a broken record.

"We will be dusting the library's collection, and checking the older scrolls to make sure that they aren't falling apart," Gaara announced.

Nothing could compare to the look of disappointment that Hagaimaru had in that moment. Yaezaki looked at him, and privately considered him to be melodramatic.

_He just needs to let it sink in, no one could care that much about our first mission being boring,_ She thought,_ it's just something you have to expect._

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Naruto stopped talking to the team he had been briefing on their mission and listened closely. The ninja by his desk did the same. They would all later swear they had heard someone screaming, "Nooooooooooooo!" somewhere in the distance.

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The makeshift sand ear plugs popped out of Gaara's ears. He looked to his other students, both of which who's hair was standing on end. He hoped the damage wasn't permanent. He walked in the direction of the library, checking back once to make sure everyone was following him. All accounted for, they continued on to their first mission.

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The flow of D-rank missions followed a fairly consistant pattern: They would get one or sometimes two done a day, spend one or two days training, and have the occasional day off. Until one day, when the pattern was broken.

The Kazekage looked at team 6 and their instructor. He glanced briefly over at the various scrolls spread over his desk. Hagaimaru tried to look tough, Yaezaki looked ready to whack him on the head, and Seiseike tried to peer over at what the scrolls said.

"Alright," The Kazekage finally said, "I've made a descion."

"Is that a first for you," Gaara said, with out any of the wit that would normally accompany the comment.

The Kazekage brushed it off, and addressed the children instead, "I'm going to give you a C-rank mission. Shouldn't be too hard, just a simple bodyguard job to the border, no chance of ninja attacks."

"Finally!" Exclaimed Hagaimaru, "A real mission! Something where my talents might actually be of some use!"

Yaezaki punched him in the head, "Idiot! This won't be any harder than our other missions. The only reason it is C-rank is because of the type of job it is."

Hagaimaru stood back up, rubbing the newly formed lump on his head, "So, who are we protecting? A feudal lord? Maybe a world-famous…celebrity…guy? Who, who?"

"Probably just a civilian from another country that doesn't know his way around the desert," said Gaara impartially.

"Actually," The Kazekage corrected, "You'll be the bodyguard for the Hokage of Konohagure."

If Gaara was one to look shocked, now would be when he would choose to do so. If Gaara was surprised to the point of overwhelming disbelief, he would have looked so surprised that his non-existent eyebrows would rocket off his head. But, of course, Gaara is not one to express such strong emotions. His students on the other hand, had not picked up on his habits in this way.

Hagaimaru looked shocked beyond greatest delight, Yaezaki was torn between making sure the former didn't do anything stupid and utter astonishment, and Seiseike simply believed that his ears were playing tricks on him, and proceeded to whack himself in the head to clear them of any sand that might have gotten stuck.

Hagaimaru, unable to contain his excitement regained vocal control first. Well…as much control as he could ever have.

"This is…UNBELIEVABLE!" He turned to Yaezaki, "Did you Hear? Did you Hear? We're escorting the Hokage! The best ninja in all of Konoha!"

Yaezaki returned to herself, and whacked Hagaimaru again to give his first lump a twin, then holding him in a choke-hold spoke with a nervous laugh, "No offense to you, Kazekage-sama lord sir."

The Kazekage laughed, "None taken. I'll admit that he is a rather incredible ninja. Probably even stronger than myself. And a peer of your instructor, if I remember correctly."

Seiseike, now certain he had heard correctly and stopped hitting his head, said, "If Gaara-sensei is a peer of the Hokage, than why isn't he the Kazekage?"

Yaezaki and Hagaimaru both looked at him with greater shock than when the mission had been announced. Even Hagaimaru knew not to say something _that_ bone-headed. The Kazekage, though, just chuckled softly again.

"Well…it's a long story involving GET OUT OF MY OFFICE!" He roared.

And they did. Ran out like they had never ran before. As stupid as that guy looked in the hat that marked his position, he sure was scary when as angry as that.

Gaara, on the other hand, watched them run by, turned to the Kazekage and stated simply, "Really, Kazekage-sama, was that entirely necessary?"

He then left the Kazekage to fume over the young boy's remark and Gaara's not-so-lightly masked insult.

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Sorry about taking so long to update. Next chapter the mission begins.

So long for now.


	8. Chapter 8

Well, I suppose it's been a little while since I've updated.  
...too bad for people that cared.

Anyway, that does not make this chapter uber long. Just really slow to come out. Enjoy.**

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**Chapter 8**

Gaara knew something was fishy about this mission, so he went to the source: the only ramen stand in all of Sunagakure. Or rather, one of the three customers that could handle the food they served.

"Naruto, what is the meaning of this?" He asked calmly, the sand drifting over to place upon the counter the official looking document that detailed team 6's mission.

The Hokage slurped up a few noodles, then picked up the paper to read it. "Looks like an assignment for bodyguard duty protecting…Hey, it's me!" He then turned to look at Gaara and said as innocently as possible, "Why, it looks like it's _your _team's assignment! What a coincidence!"

"…And that is why I've come to ask you what the meaning of this is," Gaara repeated.

"Well, I thought that since your always dropping by Konoha to say, 'Hello,' I thought I'd come out to Suna and meet _your_ students."

"You requested my team for this assignment?" Gaara asked, visibly annoyed.

"Well sure!" Naruto was oozing self-satisfaction, "Why not? I'm sure you've got a great group of genin, and it shouldn't be too dangerous, so your group should be up to it."

"And…?" Asked Gaara.

Naruto paused a moment before answering, "…and the Kazekage begged me to have a team of ninja from Suna 'guard' me." He smiled, "Gotta look good for those feudal lords."

"I'm not taking the mission."

"Sure you aren't," Naruto said, with a smug grin on his face, "You try telling that to your team, see how that goes over, then check with the Kazekage, to see his opinion, _and then _check with all of the ninja that are expecting some of the feudal lords to make some more commissions with the village, thus increasing their pay checks a bit, _and then_…"

Gaara rubbed his eyes, "alright, you win. Now shut up."

He walked out, ignoring the Hokage calling behind him, "Ne, Gaara! Don't you want some ramen?"

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"We set out tomorrow, so make sure you have everything you need."

Hagaimaru did a little dance of joy, singing, "We're gonna have a real mission, real mission, real mission!"

Gaara watched his student, with a bit of malice for some other person in mind. He soon lost himself in his thoughts, abandoning the narrow-minded concept of hatred for the one person truly responsible for his present situation, but expanded outward to everyone mildly connected with the matter.

As Gaara's musings played out in his, Hagaimaru's dance was interrupted by Yaezaki's arm around his neck; she then proceeded to beat him about the head with several sharp blows. Seiseike amused himself with fiddling with a kunai he had withdrawn from his poach and watching Hagaimaru's punishment.

Gaara snapped back to attention and with a quick glance over his students announced, "But until then, we will train."

Yaezaki stopped her barrage against her teammate, and looked up to her teacher, "Gaara-sensei, shouldn't we prepare for travel tomorrow."

"You'll have all night to prepare." Years of insomnia had caused the sand-nin to become indifferent to the need of sleep that others had, much to the dismay even of teams of jounin he had led in the past. It was this quality, though, that had earned him a certain recognition for the efficiency of his missions. He continued, "We'll use the east training grounds."

His students looked at him with a look that said, "Duh." All other training grounds were outside of the city. In other words, the desert.

None too pleased with the oh-so-obvious attitude of his students, Gaara replied to the look with, "I'll meet you there," and vanished in his whirl of sand, leaving his students quite literally in his dust.

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20 minutes, and two separate attempts to risk escaping training (by Yaezaki and Seiseike, respectively, both thwarted by Hagaimaru), the genin made it to the other side of the village and entered the training grounds.

Gaara was standing with his arms across his chest, and his gourd on the ground next to him, thrown carelessly.

"Today," He began, "We will be doing taijutsu."

The agenda was had mixed reviews. Cheers from Hagaimaru, and a sort of sullen look from the other two, Yaezaki still wincing slightly in remembrance of her sparring matches with Hagaimaru, and any one could tell by looking at Seiseike's thin frame that he was none too excited about the prospect of taijutsu training.

"Each one of you will be fighting a sand clone of me," Gaara said, and was about to continue when Hagaimaru interrupted him.

"Gaara-sensei, why can't we just fight you? I think we can take ya' if it's just taijutsu!"

Gaara continued, annoyed that he had been interrupted, "…Because, Hagaimaru, I have no control of the sand that protects me. My sand clones will have all of the same taijutsu skills I have, but you will be able to actually engage them in some hand to hand combat, instead of fighting my shield, which will never strike back."

He paused so that Hagaimaru could absorb the information. Once a look of understanding dawned on the boy's features, Gaara began.

"Suna Bunshin no Jutsu."

Sand emptied out of his gourd and formed three sand copies of Gaara. After a moment, they had completely formed and the chakra that held them together removed their sandy complexion to give them even the exact coloration of the genins' instructor. Once completed they stood at attention, awaiting orders.

Gaara calmly sat down next to his now empty gourd and waved his toward the genin, "You may begin."

Before even the sand clones moved, Hagaimaru reacted, moving so fast that it made Gaara nostalgic of his first Chuunin exam.

Hagaimaru delivered a strong round kick to one of the sand clones…which wasn't there. He felt a foot connect with his jaw from below, sending him flying into the air.

The other clones were already engaging in the spar with Yaezaki and Seiseike. Yaezaki was making an attempt to meet with the clone head on, trying her best to land a punch or a kick or anything on the copy of her teacher, unsuccessfully, though. The sand clone was doing slightly better. It had landed one punch, then held back, and had been forcing a steady forward movement, even when Yaezaki side stepped to avoid a fist or foot, the sand-Gaara always forced her in a single direction of its choosing.

Seiseike wasn't fairing much better. Instead of taking the direct approach of his teammates, he had stayed where he was, and when the final clone came after him, attempted to move as little as possible to avoid the flying side kick aimed for his head. The kick was, in fact, a feint, and Seiseike instead ended up doubled over a knee in the gut. His legs were then quickly swept out from under him, landing him on his back. He barely had time to roll out of the way from the next punch aimed for him, and none to recover.

Hagaimaru could sense that something was coming up from underneath him. He couldn't move, as there was nothing to grab onto in the air. He took a breath to reassure himself, and reached blindly behind him…and grabbed the foot of the clone about to execute a devastating combo. He released one hand from the foot, and with the other pulled as hard as he could to one side. The clone couldn't stop its own momentum, and Hagaimaru ended up on its left side, right next to it.

Hagaimaru reached with his left hand as quickly as he could to grab the clone's own left arm. Now angled at ninety degrees to the clone, he brought up his leg and slammed his heel into the stomach of the copy, with enough for to shift its momentum downward to earth. Now that he had something to grab onto, Hagaimaru assaulted the helpless clone on its travel with "Gravity Airlines". He pummeled it until the clone's head was facing the ground, hit it one last time for good measure, then pressed his feet against the sand copy's to jump away from the site of impact.

Upon hitting the ground, the tremors near the sand-Gaara's body created fissures within a five-foot radius, and a crash so thunderous that his teammates, even in their trance of combat, had to look up as every person does when such a sudden deafening noise is heard. The sand clones they were fighting, however, must have had sand in their ears, as they did not react to the sound, and both simultaneously delivered a punch that threw the genin back from where they were, and knocked the wind out of them. This forcibly returned them to the present and they continued the fight, as Hagaimaru did a victory dance as he saw that the clone had disappeared, and the sand that composed it returned to its place in Gaara's gourd.

Hagaimaru completed his dance, and watched his teammates for a few moments. Bored of that, and realizing he had nothing else to do, he looked around at Gaara for some kind of instruction. Receiving none, the genin walked over to his instructor and sat down next to him. Gaara made no objection, so he stayed.

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The other two never beat the last of the sand clones. After several hours, Gaara released the jutsu and his copy's disappeared. The sun was setting and Seiseike and Yaezaki were on the verge of collapse before he allowed them the respite.

He stood from where he had been sitting and said, "That's enough," even though his students had stopped as soon as their opponents had disappeared.

"I suppose," he continued once his students had had enough time to breath, "that I should have warned you, I trained briefly with a team of the best taijutsu and weapon specialists I have ever met. I was told I was a fast learner."

He paused again, then spoke again, "Go home and pack. You're all dismissed." And he left.

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You know who I'm talking about.


	9. Chapter 9

That's right, chapter 9 already. This is actually the longest chapter I've posted so far, so enjoy it.

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**Chapter 9**

Team 6 met their client at the Ramen stand, a special request, and they were formally introduced. Naruto was sitting with his full Hokage regalia, hat and all, and smiled as the genin approached him with their instructor.

"Hokage-sama," Gaara greeted with a bow, and thus silently indicating to his team to do the same.

"Neh, Gaara, you don't have to bow to me," said Naruto slightly embarrassed but full of himself.

Gaara did so, and said none-to-discreetly, "Naruto, shut up."

Hagaimaru looked at his teacher in wonder, "You're on a first name basis with one of the kage!"

Gaara rubbed his eyes; he didn't need this.

Naruto, on the other hand, seemed quite delighted by this, "Yes he is. You know, we took our first Chuunin exam together. On different teams of course, but whatever. Anyway, all he was wanted to do was fight my teammate, Sasuke-bastard, and I wanted to fight Sasuke, too. Have you heard before what happened at those exams?"

All of the genin, now thoroughly engrossed in the story, shook their heads no.

"Well, we all ended up getting to the final round, and he was supposed to fight Sasuke, but Sasuke couldn't make it on time, so they postponed the match. _I _had to fight this guy named Neji--"

"It's time to go," Gaara declared and left the ramen stand headed in the direction of the main gate of the village.

"Aw...I was just getting to the good part," Naruto complained, getting up and following the jounin.

The genin left forth a collective sigh, disappointed they wouldn't hear the end of the story. The continued on after the two adults, snickering as Naruto continually called Gaara a "spoil sport," and "party pooper," and tried to flick his ear. The attempts were, of course, stopped by the sand, but it didn't keep it from annoying Gaara.

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The genin were not disappointed for the mission. Though Naruto decided he forgot how the rest of his original story went, he began other stories, such as how he had met and trained under the Great Jiraiya-Sama, and his some of his more humorous misadventures.

He also told stories about Gaara, blowing them out of proportion to make it seem like their instructor was the greatest ninja in the world. Ones such as how Gaara had fought Kaguya Kimimaro, the last of the Kaguya clan and quite possibly the strongest. It made them wonder further about why he wasn't Kazekage.

"I tried to convince him," Naruto explained, "But I guess he was turned off by all the paper work you have to do."

Naruto had even convinced Gaara to slow their route down and have everyone train together as they continue on.

"We'll make a day out it," Naruto said, clapping his hands together.

Gaara glared, "Naruto, we will not be 'making a day' out of a mission."

"Oh come on," Naruto responded, "The team at the border isn't expecting me until nightfall anyway."

The cork on Gaara's gourd had popped off when Naruto said this.

Gaara did have to admit that the training was a good idea. The simple bodyguarding mission didn't offer much experience for the genin, so training along the way in the desert certainly helped.

The genin sparred with each other, and then Naruto decided he wanted to get in on the fun.

"Who wants to spar with me?" He asked.

After seeing no objection from Gaara, all three of the genin took the offer.

Naruto decided his first battle would be with Seiseike. The boy stepped up calmly and faced the hokage. When Yaezaki called Go, both started running to the left.

Seiseike preformed some quick handseals and called out, "Suna Bunshin no Jutsu!" Creating three clones that ran in separate zigzag patterns, but in the same direction.

Naruto didn't hold back. He stopped suddenly and bit his thumb and slammed it to the ground, shouting, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A frog twice the size of a tiger emerged, with Naruto sitting atop its back, and used its large tongue to lash out at one of the Seiseike's running about. It hit, moving quickly and striking its target hard. Seiseike disappeared in a cloud of smoke, a pile of sand in his place. A clone was missing.

"How clever," said Naruto, "There's nothing around for a proper replacement, so you're using sand-clones instead."

Naruto threw a kunai at another, this one simply collapsing into a pile of sand, proving it to be a clone.

The last two were moving progressively closer, both forming hand seals while dodging the tongue of the frog. Naruto knew only one was real, but bided his time. Meanwhile the Seiseike's had finished their hand seals, and yelled simultaneously, "buraindo metsuki no jutsu!"

A flash of blue. Nothing happened a moment, and then Naruto called out, "I…I'm blind!"

He held his eyes for a moment, as Seiseike jumped into the air, pulling a kunai out and readying to stab the Hokage. Then, Naruto looked right at Seiseike, shrugged, and then grinned his fox grin, "Just kidding!"

He then whipped out a kunai threw it at Seiseike, who took it full in the gut. And then disappeared in a puff of smoke, sand falling in his place.

"Damnit," Naruto chuckled, "Already forgot he had one last clone."

Naruto looked around quickly from the frog's back, when the frog suddenly reared back, throwing Naruto off.

"What the Hell!"

The frog disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Seiseike crouched below where the huge frog's mouth had been; the kunai he had been holding to strike Naruto raised as though it had just been stabbed at an upward angle.

"Seems that even if you could throw off the genjutsu, your frog couldn't," Seiseike said with an arrogant smirk. He then threw the kunai at Naruto, who caught it, then disappeared. He reappeared behind Seiseike, with the kunai at his throat.

"Well played, kid. You," the Hokage pointed to Hagaimaru, "are up next."

Seiseike moved away as soon as the kunai had been taken away from his neck, and watched as Hagaimaru stepped up.

"Yeah!" Shouted Hagaimaru, "You might be Hokage, but I'm not gonna lose!"

Naruto must have seen the same resemblance in attitude Gaara had seen, so he called over to his friend, "Neh, Gaara, what can you tell me about this kid."

Gaara answered back, "He was the only one that could beat one of my sand clones with only taijutsu."

Naruto smiled. "Only Taijutsu? Alright, if that's how you like it, how about this is a taijutsu spar?"

"Right on!" Hagaimaru answered the challenge.

"Go!" Yaezaki called, and the fight began.

Unlike Seiseike, Hagaimaru rushed straight in to meet Naruto with a flying kick. Naruto flew at Hagaimaru with an identical kick, but landed short and spun like a top with his leg extended so that his heel caught Hagaimaru leg, throwing the boy to the side. Hagaimaru quickly recovered and rushed forward again with a second flying kick. Naruto ducked under it and sprang up to punch Hagaimaru in the jaw, but Hagaimaru wasn't there.

Naruto looked quickly over his shoulder to see if the boy had simply flown over him, but seeing that Hagaimaru wasn't there, he checked the other directions as to where the boy might be.

"Left, right, behind, ahead…" He whispered to himself. He brought his fist to the ground, causing the sand around him to separate and a deep crevice to form in the sand around him. The sand revealed nothing.

"…if all else fails, then look below," A voice confirmed his oversight, "Never forget about above!"

Hagaimaru brought his fist crashing down into the spot where Naruto had been a moment before. The older nin's reflexes were better honed than his, and Naruto was thus able to get out of the way. It was also because of this Naruto was able to deliver a strong palm strike to the center of Hagaimaru's chest, throwing him back several yards.

Hagaimaru felt an incredible anger building up toward the Hokage. Instead of taking into consideration of how much higher in level Naruto was compared to him, he thought only of how he had always been amazing at taijutsu, and here seemed to be one of the only people that might be better than him. His cheeks felt like they were burning from how embarrassed he was. He tightened his muscles, and as soon as he touched the ground, he pushed off with all of his might, which caused him to move with such speed that Naruto gave up tracking his movements with his eyes. After all, he was no Uchiha. He relied, instead, on intuition.

Hagaimaru was taking a distinctly direct route, straight toward him, that was fairly obvious, so Naruto punched forward and caught the air. Only four ways to go, and he would have felt him if the boy was beneath him. That left a one-third chance that the way Hagaimaru would be coming at him was going to be the right one.

His answer came as a fist in the face, unfortunately, not at all what he had hoped for. But as long as it was there…

Naruto grabbed the arm that had punched him and threw the boy over his shoulder, land him heavily on the ground. Hagaimaru lay, completely winded, nearly gasping for breath.

"Careful, now," Naruto said, "Gaara might have trained with Gai's team, but I'm the one that controls the entire village that they're from."

Naruto rubbed his cheek as he called up Yaezaki. Yaezaki, though, had just seen both of her teammates beaten quite easily by a man that was now supposed to be _her_ opponent. She just wanted to weigh her options before she went in.

On one hand, she probably had no chance of winning. On the other hand, Hagaimaru would probably call her a chicken as Seiseike smirked an arrogant smirk. Possible severe Beating…total Humiliation. She swallowed her fears and stepped up to face Naruto.

"Hey!" Naruto said, "I get it. This guy," He pointed at Seiseike, "uses genjutsu, and this guy," shifted his finger to Hagaimaru, who had lamely limped/crawled to the designated sidelines, "uses taijutsu." He smiled, "Which must make you the ninjutsu specialist, neh?"

Yaezaki nodded. How he had decided that she had no time to wonder. Naruto next statement made her wonder if the utter humiliation would be such a bad idea.

"I'm sort of a Ninjutsu specialist, too."

She prayed that whatever he was going to do, he would at least attempt to tone down.

Just as Naruto said that, Gaara called, "Go."

Naruto quickly began forming hand seals, and was deep in concentration, so Yaezaki took the time to clear her head and think of what to do. She quickly lit up as an idea came to her, and she reached into her kunai holster and shuriken pack, grabbing two kunai and as many shuriken as she could hold. She threw them at Naruto, and then formed several short hand seals and calling, "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

The seven or so projectiles turned to fourteen, and then to twenty eight. They angled around Naruto to cover him from all sides. Naruto broke his concentration and his seal making to jump out of the way of the rain of steel. He quickly found a new place to rest and restart his jutsu.

Yaezaki tried to use the Shuriken Kage Bunshin again, but Naruto had moved further away, and therefore the shuriken and their copies couldn't reach him in time to break the attempted jutsu.

"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!"

A dragon made of water suddenly formed in front of him, circling around and stopping the kunai with its body. It then set its sights on Yaezaki, who, seeing this, quickly formed a few more hand seals, and calling, "Suna Bunshin no Jutsu!" Creating eight clones from the sand around her.

The water dragon attempted to blast through all eight, which purposefully planted themselves in its way. But the jutsu could only take so much stress, and stopping the shurikan and blasting through about six clones and it had reached its limit, bursting into water droplets so small that they evaporated quickly in the desert heat.

Naruto pouted. "So little condensation in the air," he complained, "That's the only reason it was so weak. If there was some real water around her, it would've lasted."

Yaezaki didn't pay attention to this, as she was starting her next jutsu already. "Fuuton: Kaze tokkan no jutsu!"

A sort of mini tornado formed, but it was as though it was tilted on its side, the narrow part extending from Yaezaki out, picking up sand and whipping it around the vortex at a rapid speed. Naruto quickly realized that it was the small, normally harmless grains of sand that presented the true danger. Anything being spun around at such high speeds was going to hurt if it hit you and grains of sand, being so small, could easily dig and stick into the skin if some one was caught in the middle of the tornado. Naruto had no intention of this.

Yaezaki could not see what her opponent was doing, as her own sand tornado impeded her view of him. She thought she could make him out doing something…attempting another jutsu, perhaps. She could, though, hear his yell quite clearly, though.

"Rasengan!"

The next thing Yaezaki knew, a swirling ball of chakra was staring her in the face, her own spinning vortex offset by the opposite motion of this ball of chakra. And though Naruto had a few minor cuts, he was fine. Then, the blue ball of chakra disappeared, and Naruto announced, "Sorry, you loose."

Yaezaki sat down, a little more than slightly shaken up by the previous events. Gaara took a quick check. The genin, though beaten, had virtually no injuries. Naruto had been holding back so that he didn't hurt them. Which made Gaara's job easier, he wouldn't have to explain how his team had returned with life-threatening injuries when there had been no enemies.

"Well," Naruto said, with his biggest fox grin, "Seems that there's only one last sparring match to have."

Gaara glared, "No, Naruto."

"Oh come on, all you ever do is come to me with your problems, we never get to really duke it out. Come on, for old time's sake," Naruto pleaded.

"I think you just want revenge for making you spill soup on yourself."

Naruto's expression darkened, "Not just hot, Gaara, scalding. And not just soup, Gaara, ramen! My Ramen!"

"I can understand why you didn't go into acting," Gaara replied coolly.

"Is that a yes or no?"

"Do I have a choice."

Naruto smiled, and turned to the rest of Team 6, "That, Children, is how Gaara-sensei says, 'yes.'"

* * *

I hope that you don't mind that the battles were especially short and condensed. Ifigure Naruto's strong enough that they wouldn't last long, and I really wanted to get through it all to set up the last part.

Chapter 10 to be out whenever: Naruto vs. Gaara!


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